The Women Who Ran Away - Sheila O'Flanagan Page 0,64

to cope. The truth was that Ken had always been a demanding sort of person, and she’d often pretended not to hear him when he was in the fullness of his health too. He’d always expected her to fit her life around his. He hadn’t behaved any differently when he was ill. She’d tried not to behave differently either.

Perhaps that was the problem.

She stared out of the window, across the hotel gardens toward the sea. Had she been a bad wife? The fact that she was even asking herself the question made her think the answer was probably yes. And that knowledge shattered her, because being a wife and mother had been the most important part of her existence. She’d given up her career for it, after all. She might not have ever changed her name, but she’d stopped being Grace Garvey and become Grace Harrington in every other way.

She took a deep breath, hesitated once more, then finally tapped on the link.

It was disconcerting to see him there, sitting in his office chair. The window blinds behind him were tilted almost closed, but the lamp on the desk was lit and threw shadows across his face. He didn’t look ill. But that was the thing – a lot of the time he’d actually looked perfectly fine. It was only when he moved, and sometimes when he spoke, that it was evident he wasn’t a well man.

‘So, Hippolyta, cherie,’ he said. ‘You’ve got as far as my video. I said in my note that I was impressed, and I am. Although, to be fair, the clues weren’t that difficult and you had plenty of guesses. I didn’t want to make it impossibly hard for you. Did Aline come with you? I half thought she might, and of course that would have made it all a bit too easy, because despite her innate laziness, she has a quick brain. So do you, Grace, but you don’t always use it.’

Grace pressed pause. If all he was going to do was damn her with faint praise, she wasn’t going to listen to him. He’d done it a lot over their lives together, telling her that she was clever but that she never took advantage of it. And then he’d say that she didn’t really have to, because her beauty was her passport to whatever she wanted anyway. And that he didn’t really like women who were too clever. Not that women shouldn’t be clever, he’d add, just that the clever ones tried to show off too much. They were too loud about it. Too shrill. Too strident.

I was never strident, thought Grace. I had nothing to be strident about. She took another breath, then pressed play again.

‘If you’re watching this, it’s because I’m no longer around,’ said Ken. ‘It’s a weird kind of thing making a recording that you know people will only see after you’re dead. It should be liberating, but being honest, it’s not. On the other hand, if I am still around and I’m on the trip with you, you’ll never get to see it. And now I’ve said something silly, because I’m talking to you about something that may or may not have happened. I’m sorry for such a clumsy sentence, Hippo. If I were writing you a note, I’d be far more eloquent. But it’s easier for me to talk than write now.

‘So, if I’m talking to you, it has happened: I’m very definitely dead and we’ll have to get on with it, won’t we? I hope you’re enjoying the treasure hunt and that it’s making the trip more fun for you. However, as well as being fun, it could be important to your future. The letters are the key. Once you have them all, you’ll understand, and you’ll be able to unlock the treasure. Have fun in Bordeaux – I’m sorry we never got to explore it. The next clue is for Pamplona, and if you click the link at the end of this video, you’ll see it. Don’t let me down, Hippo. Don’t let yourself down. Good luck.’

The video ended.

Grace stared at the blank screen.

Seeing him, hearing him speaking to her in the way that he always had, feeling as though, despite his words, he wasn’t really dead at all but could at any moment walk into the room had been disconcerting.

She’d been in love with him when she’d married him.

They’d endured for nearly forty years.

She missed him.

Yet despite those forty years she wondered if she’d